Blogs and Commentary

Michigan State Peaking At Perfect Time

When the scores came in two weeks ago, it was a result that
jumped off the page: Michigan State 11, Davenport 1.

Nobody holds the Panthers to one goal. While Davenport is
susceptible to giving up goals, occasionally in large quantities,
they always manage to score their fair share. Prior to playing the
Spartans, DU had been held below double-digits just once – a
15-9 loss to current No. 4 Arizona State – and had racked up
large bills against solid defensive teams like Arizona (14),
Buffalo (13) and Virginia Tech (13).

But when the dust settled against Sparty, there was that
solitary goal, and just a lonely assists for Jordan Richtsmeier,
the nation's leader in points (92).

"We take pride in every win, but holding Davenport to one goal
and a Top 5 point-scorer in the nation to one assist? It's
incredible," said Brandon Schwind, Michigan State's first-year head
coach. "We had a week to prepare, so there was a lot of focus on
their offense. I knew our offense would be able to score, so
holding the ball – not playing stall ball – but being
very conservative on our offensive end helped lead to that
defensive effort."

Schwind is a self-admitted defensive guy, as is his assistant,
Mike Sanderson, so when he was hired last year to take over the
Spartan program, his initial goal was clear. He felt the State
players were spending too much time focusing on one-on-one
match-ups and not concentrating enough on team concepts.

"We spent of time changing the way we play defense," Schwind
said. "I watched a lot of film of Michigan State when I got hired.
I knew the offense was there, so my whole focus was on defense
because it kind of reminded me of the NBA: who could score more?
They were losing games 17-16, and I was like 'How was a team
scoring 16 goals on us?' It didn't make sense to me."

Led by senior Seth Clickner, who always draws the opponent's top
gun, including Richtsmeier, is the anchor of the backline and is
joined by classmate Gabe Spiers and junior Mike Klaus on close
defense. Senior Brad Crimmins is the top long-stick middie while
sophomore goalie Matt Allemang has benefited from all of the talent
in front of him, as he's currently ranked third (71.3%) in the
nation in save percentage.

"They all have different attributes that make them great,"
Schwind said.

Schwind admits that there were some growing pains early on his
tenure when he took over for Dwayne Hicks, and a couple of players
left the team – "That happens everywhere in my experience,"
he said – but Sparty raced out to a 5-1 start to the season,
with the only loss coming against defending national champion
Colorado State, 9-3.

And then came the Simon Fraser game. The Clansmen scored eight
second-half goals on Michigan State to take a 10-9 victory. It's
still the only time an opponent has reached double-digits on the
Spartans this spring, and it came at a perfect time as far as
Schwind's concerned.

"To me, a game is won a couple of days before the actual whistle
blows," he said. "You've got to have that pregame focus, the
pregame determination to study your scouting report and to know
your opponent. Up until that point, we were not doing a good job
covering those bases. That loss to Simon Fraser was almost a
blessing because it gave us an opportunity to examine what we were
doing wrong before we actually got to the game. The kids kind of
had a cocky attitude thinking 'We lost to Colorado State, we're the
second best team in the nation.' Then we got taken down a peg by
Simon Fraser. The work ethic after that has been incredible."

Since the Fraser game, MSU has won six straight, allowing an
average of five goals per game in that span, and head into this
weekend's CCLA tournament as the top seed. They'll play Western
Michigan – a team Sparty drilled by 16 during the regular
season – and then face either Pitt or Davenport, which are
both ranked in the Top 25.

Schwind isn't surprised his team is on the cusp of an MCLA bid,
and has been pleased with how his first year has gone in East
Lansing.

"We knew we had the talent, I just think we needed to make the
talent work a little harder," he said. "It's cocky, but I did think
we'd be in this position right now. But we haven't won anything
yet. Obviously, we'll have to go through Pitt or Davenport, and
playing one of those two teams twice in a season, that's not
comfortable for me. Like I said, I have high expectations for
myself and high expectations for the boys. They've met every
challenge so far."